CORRESP ONDENCE. 



697 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



SELF-GOVERNMENT IN COLLEGES. 

 Messrs. Editors. 



YOUR editorial on " Self-Government 

 in Education," in which you give an 

 account of the interesting experiment that 

 has proved so satisfactory at Amherst Col- 

 lege, suggests to me that Amherst is by no 

 means a leader in applying the principle of 

 gelf-government among students. In say- 

 ing this I imply no detraction from the 

 credit due to Amherst ; on the contrary, it 

 is rather a subject of congratulation that 

 this college has been so conspicuously suc- 

 cessful in carrying out a policy the impor- 

 tance of which has been long recognized, 

 but which could not always be carried into 

 effect. 



A little over fifty years ago, the Univer- 

 sity of Virginia was founded as a group of 

 independent schools in which students were 

 permitted perfect freedom in the election of 

 courses of study ; and in their relations with 

 the faculty the system of espionage, so uni- 

 versal in other educational institutions, was 

 entirely discarded. The chairman of the 

 faculty was of course brought into contact 

 with students who abused their freedom, 

 but the student's responsibility as a man 

 was always recognized, and no trammels 

 were imposed upon him beyond the obliga- 

 tion to respect the rights of others. It was 

 assumed that he knew thoroughly the object 

 to be attained by his attendance at the uni- 

 versity, and the obligations implied in asso- 

 ciation with polite society. If he should 

 fail to exercise enough diligence to win 

 success in the final examinations, he him- 

 self was the only loser, and the opportunity 

 was afforded him to try the same course an- 

 other year. But if his example was deemed 

 bad, or any disturbance was traced to him 

 by ordinary methods without espionage, 

 private admonition was bestowed by the 

 chairman, or he was advised to leave. This 

 advice, thus quietly given, was adopted, and 

 the publicity of expulsion usually avoided. 

 From personal experience in this institution 

 ten years ago and again five years ago, the 

 writer does not hesitate to say that as a 

 student he enjoyed all the liberty that is af- 

 forded him in Xew York City as a member 

 of society. 



In 1866 the University of South Caro- 

 lina was organized upon the same general 

 plan that had been long carried into effect 

 in Virginia, and with similar results. Owine: 

 to political complications in that State, the 

 University was disbanded in 1870, but dur- 



ing its existence the principle of self-gov- 

 ernment among students was carried out in 

 full. A students' court was occasionally 

 held, and on no occasion did conflict arise 

 with the faculty. 



In 1870 a system of local self-government 

 for the students was adopted in the State 

 University of Indiana. The experiment ha^ 

 been on the whole successful, and a descrip- 

 tion of many of the details has lately ap- 

 peared in print. There were at times diffi- 

 culties which seemed to necessitate total 

 abandonment of the plan ; but each year's 

 experience has given strength, and no re- 

 turn to the old system is now considered 

 advisable. 



The late report of the President of Har- 

 vard affords much that is interestino; in re- 

 lation to methods of college instruction and 

 discipline. The growth of individual free- 

 dom for the student has been as noticeable 

 as the increase of breadth in the scope of 

 the university. The same remark applies 

 to Columbia College, as shown by the last 

 annual report of President Barnard. In- 

 deed, in all of our best institutions of learn- 

 ing the day of espionage is past, recitation- 

 mai-ks are to a large extent abandoned, and 

 students are regarded as agents that are not 

 only free, but also self-respecting, responsi- 

 ble, and possessed of enough common-sense 

 to appreciate the objects to be attained by 

 entering upon a course of college study. 



But the appreciation of self-government 

 is not wholly confined to those who take 

 part in the work of our higher institutions. 

 In the columns of the Xew York " Evening 

 Post," last December, appeared a series of 

 articles on " Self -Government in Schools," 

 in which the writer, one of the most success- 

 ful teachers of our city, gave an exceedingly 

 instructive recital of experiments which he 

 has been cautiously conducting for a num- 

 ber of years past, to test the advisability of 

 substituting the freedom of the republic for 

 the centralized power of an autocracy in the 

 schoolroom. He has found that a large 

 measure of self-government is quite admis- 

 sible, even where pupils are far below the 

 age at which admission to college is possible. 

 The president of the school republic sub- 

 jected himself to the same laws by which 

 juvenile voters were bound, and in the end 

 found he had nothing to regret. 



Indeed, every intelligent teacher in an 

 intelligent community to-day, whether his 

 sphere of duty be in the lecture-room, the 

 class-room, or the schoolroom, has been 



